This invention relates to a method for the manufacture of a feather quilt, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a feather quilt by dividing the interspace between the upper and lower cloth layers of a quilt enclosure into rectangular spaces arranged in regular rows and files and blowing down into the rectangular spaces of the quilt enclosure.
Conventional feather quilts have been manufactured some by uniformly distributing down in the interspace between the upper and lower cloth layers of a quilt enclosure and stitching the upper and lower cloth layers together in properly spaced longitudinal and lateral lines and others by arranging hollow cubes of fabric containing down in regular rows and files in the interspace of a quilt enclosure and sewing these cubes to the quilt enclosure. The former feather quilts are easy to manufacture but cannot be expected to acquire ample thickness. Besides, their outer sides are awkward both in appearance and to touch. The latter multi-cube quilts come in numerous kinds and shapes. Regardless of the kind and shape, these quilts are difficult to manufacture. They also suffer from a disadvantage that the down contained therein cannot be completely prevented from moving about randomly within the interspaces of the quilts.
For the purpose of facilitating the manufacture of a multi-cube quilts, there has been proposed a method which comprises inserting partitions running in spaced longitudinal and lateral lines within the interspace between the upper and lower cloth layers of a quilt enclosure thereby forming rectangular spaces in the quilt enclosure and injecting down into the individual rectangular spaces via a down injection tube successively inserted into the rectangular spaces through the openings formed in advance in their respective partitions.
One version of this method has been known from the disclosure of Japanese Patent Publication Sho 56(1981)-1094. This method produces a feather quilt by the steps of disposing a plurality of lateral partitions at proper intervals in the interspace between the upper and lower cloth layers of a quilt enclosure and, at the same time, disposing longitudinal partitions at fixed intervals in the spaces separating the adjacent lateral partitions, with the intersections of the lateral and longitudinal partitions left unsewed, and injecting down into the rectangular spaces defined by the lateral and longitudinal partitions as orderly arranged in rows and files through the unsewed intersections.
Generally, the tube used for the injection of down into the rectangular spaces is required to have an inside diameter of not less than 30 mm. Otherwise, the tube is clogged with down and prevented from efficiently filling the rectangular spaces in the quilt enclosure with down. To form openings large enough to permit insertion of a down injection tube having an outside diameter of well over 30 mm (about 100 mm in circumferential length) by keeping the intersections of the partitions unsewed, the partitions are required to have a very large inner volume. Consequently, a huge volume of down is required to fill up all the rectangular spaces. Also disadvantageously, the down filling the rectangular spaces can move freely between the adjacent rectangular spaces through the large openings during the use of the quilt. Some rectangular spaces may bulge out and others shrink down in one and the same quilt. Thus, the down which has been originally distributed evenly in all the individual rectangular spaces will gather densely at some portions and disperse thinly at other portions. Moreover, the work of sewing the longitudinal partitions and the lateral partitions on one edge to the upper layer and on the other edge to the lower layer respectively of the quilt enclosure takes much time and labor.
To overcome the disadvantages suffered by the conventional method, the present inventor has proposed in Japanese Utility Model Application Sho 56(1981)-130619 a feather quilt manufactured by arranging, in rows and files, unit bags each having the shape of a cube and incorporating a tubular opening in either or both of the longitudinal sides thereof and injecting down into the unit bags via a down injection tube similar to the tube mentioned above, successively into the tubular openings of the unit bags. In accordance with this method, the thickness of the unit bags can be fixed without reference to the diameter of the down injection tube and the quilt can be finished in a suitable thickness. This method nevertheless has a disadvantage that the work of preparing the individual unit bags consumes much time and labor.